The last time Bangalore was in the top five was in the first quarter of 2020, with a passenger share of 6.7%.
International air travel is returning to normal at several airports around the world and Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) is no different. Since the opening of India’s international airspace by the Ministry of Civil Aviation on March 27, the number of passengers traveling abroad and the number of people flying has grown significantly.
Bengaluru was not among the top five Indian cities for international travelers from the first quarter of 2020 (January-March), in the third quarter of 2022 (July-September).
According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s analytical report on quarterly international traffic statistics, Bengaluru ranked fifth among the top five Indian cities in terms of international passenger traffic in the third quarter of 2022 with 6.5% of passengers.
After Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, it took the top three positions, while Kochi was in the fourth position.
The last time Bengaluru was in the top five was in the first quarter of 2020 with a 6.7% passenger share, and that was before COVID. India closed its airspace on March 23, 2020 due to the pandemic.
Bengaluru was among the top five in 2019, taking the fourth position with a passenger share of between 7% and 7.8%. Airport officials said that while the domestic sector has fully recovered, the international sector has yet to reach pre-COVID levels.
“Of the 29 Indian cities where international passengers embark/disembark, five Indian cities accounted for the majority of international passenger traffic (about 69.1%). Delhi leads the position in this category with a share of 27.3%, followed by Mumbai (18.4%) and Chennai (9%). Domestic and foreign carriers connect India to 50 countries through 307 routes,” says the DGCA report.
Also, most international passengers were transported on the Dubai-Mumbai sector, followed by Dubai-Delhi. From KIA, most international passengers traveled on the Dubai-Bengaluru sector.